Businesses

Articles

Home Auto Family Finance Health & Beauty House & Home Insurance Legal Pets Professional Services School & Work Seasonal Shopping & Fun Sports & Fitness Vacations & Travel
Water Treatment Options- 8 Things to Know

Water Treatment Options: 8 Things to Know

Share with friends

×

When the water flowing from your tap looks murky, smells strange or has an odd flavor, there’s a water treatment system that can help solve these problems. Your challenge as a homeowner is to understand the different technologies involved and then choose the combination of devices and system(s) that solve your specific issues.

To simplify the decision-making process, try focusing first on your quality goals and then on technology options.

Quality Goals

Briefly, in-home treatment devices and systems are designed to accomplish one or more of the following:

Disinfect – Kill or remove bacteria, viruses, parasites and other microorganisms. This makes water safer to drink but doesn’t affect its appearance or address other potential contaminants.

Purify – Remove various contaminants along with sediment and impurities that contribute to cloudiness, an off-putting odor and/or unpleasant taste.

Soften – Remove minerals such as calcium and magnesium that make water hard. This reduces lime scale buildup, improves the effectiveness of soaps and detergents, minimizes soap residue on skin, makes laundry softer and may reduce cloudiness.

Technology Options

Most in-home systems feature one or more of five key technologies. In straightforward terms:

Distillation units are designed to heat water to the boiling point. This converts water to steam, kills microorganisms and leaves most minerals and chemical contaminants behind. As the steam is captured and cooled, it reconverts to liquid form.

Filtration units typically use mesh fibers, carbon filters or a combination of both to absorb, break down or sift particles out of water. Advanced filters remove extremely small particulates including minerals, dissolved organic material and some microorganisms.

Ozonation units produce ozone, an activated form of oxygen that kills bacteria, viruses and molds, and oxidizes minerals to make them easier to remove.

Reverse osmosis units force water under pressure through a semi-permeable membrane that filters inorganic compounds such as nitrates, calcium and magnesium from the water.

Ultraviolet units use UV light to either disinfect water by killing disease-causing microorganisms or improve water quality by eliminating non-disease causing organisms.

These technologies exist in a variety of forms from individual devices that sit on the counter or attach to the faucet to whole-house systems that treat all the water used in the household.

If you’re trying to address one problem such as cloudy water, the solution could be as simple as purchasing a few filtration devices and attaching them to specific faucets. If you’re trying to address multiple quality and contamination issues, it’s likely you’ll need a more comprehensive treatment system that integrates two or more technologies above. In these situations, it’s wise to contact your plumber for assistance.

Share with friends

×